Lunch in a car dealership? The delights of life in Tunisia’s capital

by Rashmee

Posted on July 14, 2017



The F Caffe in Tunis is a zippy name for a 40-cover restaurant in the Fiat car dealership. It’s in the tony surrounds of Lac 1, near the American and British embassies. Other hip eating places abound nearby but F Caffe rather holds its own.

For starters, it’s unusual. It’s not every day you go to a car dealership and gaze out at Fiat 500s and Jeep Renegades as you stuff your face with perfectly al dente pasta.

Then, there’s the pasta.

I ordered strozzapreti, a hand-rolled, twisted pasta that’s supposed to be shaped like a hangman’s knot and was apparently created to send priests to meet their maker! The corkscrew-shaped penne are said to date from the 1600s, a vicious period it seems because the women cursed gluttonous clergymen of central Italy. The sinister mythology does not in any way cast a cloud over the strozzapretti at F Caffe. It was a sumptuous repast, full of many good flavours – cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, shards of parmesan, all deliciously cleaving to the olive oil pooling at the bottom.

We also ordered a Ceasar Salad, which may have had a little too much dressing but was perfectly nice in most other respects.

The point about the F Caffe is that it’s whacky and memorable. And it offers an excellent meal.

Next time, we’ll leave room for Tiramisu and Cheesecake too.


Rashmee has lived and worked in several countries in the past decade, including Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Tunisia, the UAE, US and UK

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